Headlight construction



5 Sheets-Sheet l s. F. ARBUCKLE HEADLIGHT CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 15, 1922 July 3, 1923.

I N V EN TOR.

A TTORNE Y.

Fig.1.

Samue/ E Arbuck/e July 3, 1923. 1,460,834

' S. F. ARBUCKLE HEADLIGHT CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 13 19 22 5 SheetS -Sheet 2 Samue/ F Aruc/r/e INVENTOR.

A TTORNE Y.

July 3, 1923. 1,460,834

S. F. ARBUCKLE- HEADLIGHT CONSTRUCTION Fil ed Feb. 15 1922 -5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Q J I y M JJ f M. Fl MM INVENTOR.

I E E Samuel E Arbuck/e ATTORNEY.

July 3, 19 23.

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Samue/ F/Iruc/r/e INVENT R.

ATTORNEY.

July 3, 1923.

, 1,460,834 9. F. ARBUCKLE HEADLIGHT CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 13 1922 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Fig. 11 /6' /6 W71 INVENTOR.

Samue/ FA/"uck/e F1118 By Max,

A TTORNE Y.

Patented July 3, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL F. ARBUCKLE, F CONNERSVILLE, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO MONOGRAM LENS CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

HEADLIGHT CONSTRUCTION.

Application filed February 13, 1922. Serial No. 536,024.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, SAMUEL F. ARBUoKLn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Connersville, in the county of Fayette and I State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Headlight Constructions, of which I declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description.

The present invention relates to a headlight construction wherein a novel form of lens is employed to form a novel combination of'lens, reflector and lamp'or source of illumination, cooperating to produce a new and improved form of light projection, the 1! lens per se having important novel characteristics.

It has been found extremely diflicult to produce from a fixed source of illumination a satisfactory long distance driving light and at the same time properly illuminate the sides of the roadway. It is an object of the present invention to provide a head-' light construction which will have the ca- I pacity of giving a relatively bright central driving light with a side light uniformly varying in intensity of suflicient lateral spread to properly illuminate intersecting highways, ditches and any other objects on the sides of the road, which it is desired to see and which may also prevent objectionable glare to pedestrians and other drivers of vehicles to comply with the law against glaring headlights.

A satisfactorytype of projected light uniformly varying in illuminosity may be obtained by a type of front lens or glass cover plate in which at certain zones various por tions of the projected light from a headlight are laterally deflected at certain angles while,

at certain other zones, portions of the light are deflected at other angles with a resultant efficiency and proper conservation of the total amount of available candle power capable of being projected from the light source. However, the cover front may have sections of vertical ribs. flutes, prisms or the like having light deflecting portions to overlap horizontally the projected light, illuminating a central area and an extension on each side thereof. p

The present inventionalso contemplates the use of such a lens construction as is indicated in combination with both a stationary reflector or a tilting reflector as may be desired, it being apparent that the light is properly diffused as well as projected in car, owners name or any other desired indicra.

Various other objects are within the scope of this invention, such as relate to the arrangement of the related elements, and the lens per se and to the manufacturer and numerous other features which will be apparent from a consideration of the drawing and related description of certain forms of the invention, in Which Figure 1 represents the vertical section I through a headlight construction embodied in the present invention,

Figure 2 is a cross section of a similar nature,

Figure 3 is a front elevation, and

Figure 4 a section on the line AA of F igure 3, showing a lens construction per so,

while Figure 4 is an enlarged portion thereof.

' Figure 5 represents a cross section-of the light projected on a screen at a certain distance, say 100 feet, from the headlight.

Figures 6 and 7 are front elevations and sections on a line of the lens similar to the one illustrated in Figures 3 and 4, but having a clear central portion.

Figures 8 and 9 are elevations and sections of a lens having thereon a monogram.

Figures 10,11 and 12 correspond to Figures 2, 3 and 4 but show the zone or seetional areas of the lens provided with the deflecting zones or sections reversed.

Figure 13 illustrates the invention applied to a tilting reflector and is a vertical section of a headlight construction corresponding to Figure 1.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2 of the drawing, it will be seen that I have illustrated herein a headlight having a casing 10, a parabolic reflector 11, a lamp 12; and a novel type of front lens 15 which may be uniform practically vertically extending ribs or prisms, and as shown in Figure 4,

.the vertical ribs or prisms 17 on either side of the central zone of the lens are higher than the ribs 18' at the central zone. advantageous way of producing such a lens is by making the vertical ribs or prisms 17 on either side of the central zone of the lens higher than the ribs 18 at the central I have shown in Figure 4- an enlarged section of a lens found to give satisfactory results. The ribs 17 are provided with a sharp curvature at :12, a radius actually used being 3/64ths of an inch, while the front face 3 has a flattened extension or area with a larger curvature radius of 5/16 of an inch while the depth from the crown of a rib 17 to the base in this in this case, I have made 17 thousands of an inch. The ribs 18' at the zone 18 have a surface curvature of a radius of 11} inches in the particular embodiment referred to and are lower than prisms 17 These dimensions while illustrative have produced excellent results.

Referring to Figures 2 and 5, it will be seen that the rays of light projected forwardly by the reflector 11, (which is in the shape of a true parabola of some type and suitable dimensions), are parallel to the center line and the several rays form the beam of light of the headlight. As the rays of light 20 at the outside portions of the reflector meet the prisms 17', the same are deflected at the portions a: as indicated at 21 through quite a wide divergent angle, due to the sharp angle of refraction at this surface. At the central portions y however, the rays are deflected very little and are projected forwardly by the reflector 11 as usual. The central portion of the light rays 25 meeting the vertical ribs 18' are deflected at a lesser angle than the portions as of ribs 17 on account of the angle of refraction and are shown by rays 26 at the central portion of the beam. It is to be noted that by having each of the several ribs vertical, a lateral deflection only is effected and in this way a conservation of the candle power is obtained, and the projected beam of light of the form and shape indicated diagramatically in Figure 5 is obtained. It will be seen that the light rays 26 being deflected bythe portions of the ribs 18 being relatively flat as shown will tend to concentrate at the central portion 30 of the light, while the greater deflected portions of the light from the surfaces 02 of the ribs 17 indicated by the rays 21, give an extended area of light projection 31 on either side of the central.

portion 30, and that the central portions 3 of the several ribs 17 may not interfere so much with a forward projection of the rays as they are more flattened and the angle of incident is more nearly normal and the curvature of each-of the individual ribs presents a more or less extended central portion of reduced refractive power to overlap horizontally the field of projected light of the generad shape herein indicated which may be varied to meet the requirements of any particular specification. It will be apparent that the rays of light reflected from the outer zones 17 will also overlap the central portion at 30 produced by ribs 18 and that the total result will be a more or less gradual taper or variation in illumination from the bright center to the light at either side thereof, thereby giving an excellent driving light and properly illuminating the road sideways, intersecting roads, ditches, house numbers, and the like. The adjacent ribs where zones meet may only slightly vary so that the difference in construction will not be strikingly pronounced.

It will be seen thatthe difference in the angle of refraction of the light in the different zones or different portions of prisms and also the various amounts of light which encounters the different zonesor surfaces causes the differences in the deflection of the. total beam of forwardly projected rays of light, and that this result might be obtained by having the prisms or ribs of equal height but presenting different angles; by having a different character of glass or polish to the different prisms surfaces or different indices of refraction for the dif ferent zones of the lens or different portions of each prism and by-other means as will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

In Figures 6 and 7, I have illustrated a lens of the character specified and illustrated in Figures 3 and 4, but also provided with aclear central portion 85 Which may be used for insignia or other means producing a desirable and advantageous ornamental effect as a whole and also having the advantageous mechanical effect of tending to brighten the central zone of the projected light in view of the fact that none of the light projected forwardly through the cen- In Figures 10, 11 and 12 I have illustrated a construction similar to Figures 3 and 4, but in which the deeper vertical ribs or prisms 17 are located at the central portion or central zone of they lens, whereas the lower ribs 18 are located at the extreme sides thereof. It will be seen from an inspection of Figure 10, however, that the result Will be the same as that shown in Figure 5 but the rays 40, projected forwardly from the central ribs 17, are deflected through the wider angle as indicated, whereas other zones of rays 41 and 42 are pro jected through less diverging angles as will be understood from the foregoing.

In Figure 13, I have illustrated the reflector 11, as being pivoted at 45 and adapted to be tilted by any desired means such as a flexible wire or rod 46, the same being.

normally retained in normal position by a spring 47. Front lens 15 may be of either of the types illustrated in any of the embodiments of my invention shown herein.

It is apparent that, within the spirit of the invention, modifications and different arrangements may be made other than as herein disclosed, and that the present disclosure is illustrative merely, the' invention comprehending all variations of the invention, certain embodiments thereof being pointed out. What I desire to claim and secure by Letters Patent of the United States 1s.

What I claim is:

1. A cover front for use with a headlight having a source of light and a reflecting surface, said cover front havin means whereby rays of light reflected rom the reflecting surface are deflected laterally to rovide a horizontally wide spread driv- 'of vertical zones, each zone composed of vertical convex ribs, the central portion of the'ribs of some ofthe zones being relatively flat, the curvature of the ribs of one zone being different from the curvature of the ribs of. an adjacent zone, the relatively flat portion of said ribs having such common deflecting power as tooverlap horizontally the projected light illuminating a central portion and a side area varying in intensity from the center to the side thereof. 2. A cover front for use with a headlight having a source of light and a reflecting surface, said cover front having means whereby rays of light reflected from the reflecting surface are deflected laterally to provide a horizontally wide spread driving light, said means comprising a plurality of vertical zones, each zone composed of vertical convex ribs, the central portion of the ribs of some of the zones being relatively flat, the curavature of the ribs of one zone being different from the curavature of the ribs of an adjacent zone, the. relatively flat portion of said'ribs having such common deflecting power as to overlap horizontally the projected light illuminating a central portion and a side area varying in intensity from the center to the side thereof, there being a clear portion at one zone of said cover front and a raised monogram located at said clear portion. the raised sides of said monogram being substantially perpendicular to the face of the cover front.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature.

SAMUEL F. ARBUCKLE. 

